Tom Ellis treaded fantasy for soapy dramatics for Season 2 of Hulu’s “Tell Me Lies,” in a “quietly sociopathic” role he recalled having the “hardest time” breaking into.
“Of all the characters I’ve ever played, I probably had the hardest time trying to understand his choices and his motivation,” Ellis told TheWrap of his character Oliver. “He’s someone who is quietly sociopathic and someone who doesn’t really think about consequence, someone who thinks solely of themselves, first and foremost.”
“Tell Me Lies” Season 2 introduced viewers to Oliver, a professor at Baird college married to fellow professor Marianne (Gabriella Pession), who developed a mentor-like relationship with Lucy in the show’s first season. After Marianne introduced Lucy and her friends to her husband, whom Ellis described as “broken, cold and someone who keeps his cards very close to his chest,” he starts an affair with Bree (Catherine Missal).
Ellis knew that “Tell Me Lies” showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer — who is also his wife — had been toying with exploring the dynamics in an age-gap relationship in Season 2, and Ellis was all in when she asked him if he would be interested in the role, though he knew he likely wouldn’t have been the first pick had the scripts not been written by Oppenheimer.
“I was really grateful that they did come to me, because it was an opportunity to do something very different for me and play a completely different type of character to what I was playing in the last few years,” the “Lucifer” star said. “As an actor … that was a huge privilege, because it doesn’t always happen that way.”
The pair previously worked together on the Catherine Zeta-Jones-led “Queen America,” which Oppenheimer created, wrote and executive produced and featured Ellis for several episodes.
“A lot of people have asked, ‘What’s it like working with your wife?’ because I think people would assume it’s a bit strange, but it’s quite the opposite for us,” Ellis said. “It feels very seamless. We’re able to really quite easily separate church and state, and we have a very healthy respect for each other’s creativity and creative process, and I think she’s a phenomenal writer.”
Below, Ellis breaks down the start of Oliver’s affair with Bree, and teases how the rest of the season plays out.
TheWrap: Why do you think Bree feels so seen with Oliver, and how does he use that to his advantage?
Tom Ellis: When you’re talking about someone who’s older and has seen a lot more of life and knows a lot more, he’s able to understand what it is that she is looking for, or what it is that she’s lacking and whatever his intentions are behind that, he’s able to then say what she needs to hear. If you’re able to do that with someone, then you can force a connection that maybe isn’t there naturally and I think Oliver is very quietly clever at doing that. I think some of his feelings are genuine, but when I talk about this character having genuine feelings, I don’t think that that’s how I process the world as Tom but I have to find what it is that makes this character tick. I don’t think he’s someone who’s evil out to destroy people’s lives, but at the same time … I don’t think he thinks about the consequences of action — he thinks about … what he wants in the moment. He’s able to use his maturity to attract Bree and to entice her in a very quiet way.
Do you think their affair still would’ve happened had Bree shown up both at the bar and his car? Would Oliver ever have taken that initiative?
Oliver is someone who … won’t actively pursue, and I think if those instances hadn’t happened, he would have just left it there. To quote a phrase, he’s probably someone who’s good at giving people enough rope to hang themselves. I think he’s very conscious of the effect of the things that he says to her, and I don’t think he’s surprised when when she turns up, but it gives him the room to move forward.
At this point, do you think Oliver feels conflicted about the affair and has self awareness about taking advantage of her? Does he know Bree will get hurt no matter what?
Oliver doesn’t really think about how it’s going to affect Bree, I think he might allude to that. He talks about how he doesn’t want this to ruin his life. He’s very straightforward about … not leaving his wife — he’s not going to do that. He lays out the boundaries, and he’s very clear about that. I think he feels like he can’t be accused of leading someone on if he does that. But of course, he’s older and wiser and knows better, so if I’d been there, I would have stepped in and said “no,” but Oliver is someone who doesn’t really think about that. He thinks solely about himself and his own appetite.
A lot of the characters are able to realize the age difference is problematic. Does Oliver feel like what he’s doing is generally understood as creepy?
I don’t think that he judges the world that way. I’m trying when I’m playing him to find some degree of empathy or some degree of understanding as to why he does the things he does. He says one thing in the bar scene in Episode 2 that … his first wife died. For me, that was the one thing to cling onto, the one bit of information to cling on to, not to excuse him, and not to explain everything, but to me, it suggests this person’s broken. This person is simply broken and he’s not been fixed. I don’t think he is looking to get fixed. I think he is a broken soul, and unfortunately he becomes a vacuum that Bree falls into.
As you were crafting Oliver’s backstory, do you imagine this is something Oliver has done before?
That is a question that I asked Meaghan actually, when we were doing it … [and] she was like, “I think he’s definitely done this before.” That was a really helpful note coming into it … [but] I didn’t want the audience to think that. As we get further down the road and we find out more, the audience will make their mind up for themselves, but I think that the ease by which it seems to happen suggests to me that this is maybe something that he’s done before.
What can you tease about what transpires for the rest of the season?
Not just this storyline, but a lot of the storylines in “Tell Me Lies” [are] about red flags and ignoring red flags, and what happens if you ignore them. I think that a lot of people might think they know where this is going, but I think that we will surprise them at the very end. It’s not everything you expect it to be, but it is something that is a difficult watch.
This interview has bee edited for length and clarity.
New episodes of “Tell Me Lies” premiere Wednesdays on Hulu.
The post ‘Tell Me Lies’ Star Tom Ellis Says He Had the ‘Hardest Time’ Breaking Into His ‘Quietly Sociopathic’ Character appeared first on TheWrap.
